


Flourmill

by MadameGiry25



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Children, Family, Gen, Hunger Games Tributes, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 05:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1066175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadameGiry25/pseuds/MadameGiry25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He knew that his big sister wasn't going to win... but why was Mother crying?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flourmill

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a gift for Estoma for her hard work in the Reviews Lounge, Too Reviewathon.

Grinding, grinding, grinding…

Mother tells him to keep on quickly now, grind, grind, grind… Eyes on the grinder, not the screen. Turn the handle round and round, let the grain slip through his fingers and into the machine. He watches the grain skip and dance, trying to escape from the sharp blades before they slide out of his sight, to reappear in the wooden bowl on the table.

_Keep on, keep your mind on your work. Don't get distracted._

Mother's voice won't let him watch the television screen. It keeps his eyes pointed down, keeps his arms turning the crank of the tiny flourmill. He doesn't like it. He wants to stop, wants to watch. But Mother can't keep him from listening.

The men on the television are saying how it is a shame, how it just isn't fair. What they always say when a young child is killed. He recognizes that, he wonders who has died this time. He can't hear a tribute, can't even hear so much as a bird on the screen. All he hears is the announcer, who is being very careful not to mention a name.

_Lucius! Do as I say. I don't want to tell you again._

He'd stopped cranking without knowing it, and he begins afresh, sighing as he halfheartedly tosses another handful of grain into the mill. He pauses when he hears Mother make a sound as she pulls bread out of the oven. It is strange. He recognizes it as pain, but there is something else there… Not like when you scrape your knee or cut yourself on the mill…

Singing is on the screen now, singing…

_Deep in the meadow, under the willow_

He can't stop himself anymore, can't listen to Mother, must look. He sees a little girl lying on the floor of the arena, held in another girl's arms. The littler girl's face is turned away from him, but he recognizes her immediately. Rue!

Mother begins to sob, dropping the bread in her hands. She doesn't look at him, doesn't see that he's not doing his work. The sound scares him as she begins to cry and cry and cry…

Six years old… only six. Mother doesn't think that six is old enough to see that his big sister is sleeping. She screams and cries, and the sound frightens him. But he is old enough to know what the sound of the canon on the television means. He watches, running over to squeeze his mother's hand. The older girl… why is she sad? She's not supposed to be sad. She's winning.

He'd liked that girl. He'd liked watching her take care of Rue, helping his big sister. He'd thought maybe Rue could win the game now! But that was gone. He liked her… he saw the girl being nice to his big sister now that the canon said that she was gone. What did Mother always say he should do when someone was nice to you? Mother said that you should always say thank you.

He runs and grabs one of the hot loves from the dirt floor of the house.

_Mother? This is for her. For the nice girl._

Mother stares at him, and he wishes that she would stop crying. He doesn't understand why she's crying. Rue will come home. The canon just means that she lost. There's nothing more than that… right?

Mother takes the loaf from his hands, and the smile that she gives him makes him happy.

_Yes, Lucius. For the nice girl._


End file.
